UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD

,NEBRASKA68102

y

The

stallion laid the course:

Up

the long, unwinding stretch of a miles- long valley.

Through

a narrow, brush- choked connecting neck into another one.

Up

the slope, and across a

mesa

leagues long.

An

aspen thicket.

The

trough of another valley.

A

tamarack- smothered flat. Thickets of scrub oak, andgroves of pine, spruce, and cotton- wood. Once, across a

draw

whose slow stream splashed them with the tepid waterasthey lashed throughitat breakneckspeed.

For long minutes,

Ned

pressed the bay, but slowly, imperceptibly, the stallion kept going

away

from him.

Ned's

brow

creased worriedly. Stockin"

Foot was no ordinary range horse.

With

every

atom

of his being e.xerted, as it

now

was, he should have

made

a bettershowing against the stallion.

He

was in unusually fine fettle today.

Ned

hadseento that.

Now Ned

thought of all that had been said about the stallion, but he refused to consider the possibility that he was underestimating the prowessof ihe stallion and perhaps relying too greatlyonthatof the bay.

Then, suddenly, he tensed in the saddle. His breeze-whipped face tight- ened.Hiseyesnarrowed toslits against the burn of the wind as he checked and rechecked the distance separating him fromthe black.

Then

swift, wild elation surged throughhim. Stockin' Foot was match- ing the stallion's speed!

The

^gap be- tween them, he saw clearly now, had lessened. It continued to narrow even as he watched.

The

bay was gaining onthestallion!

"You're doin' it. boy! You're doin' it!" he said elatedly intothe bay's ear.

"Shagit,boy!

Show him who

hethinks he's fooling! Step on his heels!"

The

stallion

pounded

into a narrow- mouthed, high-walled canyon. With unabated pace,

Ned

thundered after him. Then, as he followed the animal around a long, sharp bend, his heart suddenlysank.

They

had reached Deso- lation Belt.

The

Belt cut off, as cleanly and abruptly as ifwith aknife, the grassed

(ContinuedonPage 46)

y-

y

44

yt

<[ .;"^

^-- _' 'You'vebeen mightyquiet since lunch,

Fred."

The

National

FUTURE FARMER

Buying your ^first tractor? The new IH424

is built to stretch your

/> hard-earned dollars!

^m'

When you're starting out on

youi"

own

—

long on ambition but short on money

—

making the right choice of your

first

tractor

is

vitally important. The one you buy should meet these

five

requirements:

1.

Low initial cost.

2.

Low operating cost.

3.

Low maintenance.

4.

Greatest versatility.

5.

Top work output.

Better head straight

for

your IH

dealer,

then, because these

five

points describe our new International 424

to

a "T."

From the hood down, the IH 424 takes a new ^slant

to agile

tractor power. Since

frills ai'e

kept

to

a minimum, the 424

is

reasonably priced. Yet

it

does

all

kinds of big work with ease — handles 3 plows with no sweat. Like the elephant,

it

works

for

peanuts. And you can forget repair and

maintenance problems

for

a long time.

You'll have many of the latest time- saving and work-improving features as standard equipment. For instance, S

for-

ward speeds and

2

reverse, with

a built-in fast

reverser. Differential lock

for

positive

traction.

Plus a hitch and hydraulic system that works with the precision and ease of a computer. These features, when teamed with more

efficient

use of power, mean you can often match the work output ^of an

older,

higher horsepower

tractor.

Why not try one out? Your IH dealer

will

help you stretch your dollar as far as

it

can go on a new 424. He

likes

to see

a

young farmer with

lots

of savvy get

off to

the right

start.

International Harvester Company, Chicago,

Illinois

60601.

o n ^{The people who bring you the machines}

^that

^work

1965 45

"Can't think ofanything

we

need

more

than dual carburetors."

Wild Horse

(Continued from Page44) and forested and watered country be- hind them. Boulders and scrub brush materialized suddenly all about him.

Sand

—

^{hot. deep,} fine-particled

— came

into being abruptly underfoot.

The

sunbeat mercilessly

down

from a brassy, molten sky. Bare, sun-blasted valley floors flashed by.

The

sandy waste slowed the pace to a struggling gallop.

The

stallion was beautiful no more. Dust covered his sweat-streaked coat. It mottled

him

grotesquely.

Greasewood

and mesquite had roughed up its sleekness. For an instant

Ned

thought he could even see the mightv barrel heave, sense fatigue in the look thestallionflungbackathim.

He

v\asn't

much

better off.

Ned

thought grimly as he looked quickly

down

at himself. Dust begrimed his sweat-soaked body. His mesquite- and greasewood-cut hands were matted with caked and dried blood.

A

grease-

wood

branch-raked gash on his fore- head pained and burned. His Levis were torn, and hisrun-over bootswere badly scratched.

Finally they jogged out into a great walled valley that

marked

the western endofDesolationBelt.

This was the farthest point reached by any of the stallion's various would- be captors.

Ned

had been told.

The

stallion had always lost them by bridging the Devil's Gap.

The Gap

wasa huge, deepgorge cut deep

down

across the floors of the canyons at a sharp cross-tangent. It cleaved apart the Sunset country from Desolation Belt.

A

sense of futility and despair as- sailed

Ned

as he saw the stallion lope

away

into one of the canyons.

The

stallionhadgainedagood leadthrough Desolation Belt. Retarded by Ned's weight in the saddle,Stockin' Foot had been unable to gain distance.

It was cool in the canyon, sheltered from the scorching sun by the steep, high-reaching walls.

The

sound of the 46

stallion's hoofs suddenly diminished up ahead. Then, abruptly, they died alto- gether.

Ned

groaned with disappoint- ment and defeat.

The

stallion had ne- gotiated the bridging of the Gap.

Even

now,

Ned

told himself dis- mally, the black was undoubtedly pounding

away

up the opposite slope toward the inner ranges of the Sunset country and safety from capture.

Stockin' Foot suddenlystumbled.

He

tottered on spent legs, almost going down. His barrelheavedandhisbreath whistled from wide-flaring nostrils.

The

chase for him was at an end.

Ned

realized. Reluctantl\'. he checked the animaldown.

The momentum

of the animal's slowing speed carried him around the bend.

And

then

Ned

stared unbeliev- ingly.

He

had the stallion cornered!

Trapped!

A

hundred yards ahead, the canyon lifted to meet the down-slope of the Sunset country.

The

line was

marked

by the purple gash of the Gap.

Ordinarily, it had been narrow enoughfora leap,

more

orlesshazard- ous at best, across to the continuance ofthe canyon onthe other side, but a huge section of the wall had fallen away.

The

stallion stood at the lip of the gorge. Tossing his black-maned head torturingly. he snorted and

champed

about with anguish. His distended eyes rolled wildly in his head with desper- ation.

He

eyed the

Gap

uncertainly.

Even in his best physical form, the leapwould havetaxed hisstrength and

skill. In his present

worn

state, the featwasimpossible.

The

despair that had clutched

Ned

earlier fell

away

from

him

like an old worn-out cloak. His eyes burned with purpose and determination. Tensing in the saddle, he took up the rope from the horn.

The

trained ba\- under him braced trembling legs as

Ned

spun out a loop.

The

animal bunched his weary frame against the strain he

knew

was coming.

The

stallion turned. Warily, he started pacing slowly, carefully toward Ned. "Goin' to try and break past."

Ned

muttered grimly to himself.

He

blinked the perspiration out ofhiseves and gripped the rope in his fingers

more

firmly, bimching his lean frame.

Then, suddenly, he gasped.

The

stallion pivoted abruptly. His hoofs dug hard into the earth. Sand and gravel spurtingup from underhis feet, heracedtowardtheGap.

-No!"

Ned's voice was harsh, croaking, high-pitched. His fingers, clutching his rope,wentwhite-knuckled.

The

stallion's sinews flexed as he

pounded

to the lips of the gorge. His might},' frame bunched. Then, just

short of the gap, he

came

to a short, choppingstop.

Fervently, aprayerof thanks welled upout ofNed'spain-constrictedthroat.

But his relief was short-lived, for again thestallionturned. Nervously, he stamped back toward Ned. Then,veer- ing, he started toward the

Gap

once more.

Again he stopped in time.

He

pranced agitatedly around at the edge of the gorge.

He

zigzagged desperately back and forth.

He

was cornered

—

trapped

—

and he

knew

it was capture or death.

Ned

sat there silently fora time: he watched the stallion. Then, finally, he

came

^to a bitter, galling decision. It

was an agonizing one to make, but he realized if he tried to rope him, the stallion would attempt the leap across theGap.

Slowly, reluctantly, he began replac- inghis rope on thesaddle horn. Then, with alast,longinglookatthestallion, he turned his bay. Slowly, he started back up the canyon

down

which he had come.

He

didn't hear or see the stallion

come

out. It was toodark by the time he

came

back out into the valley, and besides, he was tootired andheartsick to attune his ears to the soft, stealthy

movements

of the ani?nal as it stole out of the can\ on.

He

pulled to a halt under a cluster of cottonwoods on the far north slope of the valley.Dismounting, he slumped wearily

down

to the ground, utterlv and completely spent. Limply, he stretched outonthegrass.

He

lay there for long moments, re- gaining hisspent strength. In themorn- ing he would begin the long, weari-

some

trekbacktowhere he had started his pursuit of the stallion.

From

there he would head on south again to the horse wrangling job he was seeking.

And

as he lay there, minutes later, there wafted back to

him

across the stilled distances a whinny.

Was

it tri-

umph?

Defiance'?

Or

did he just imagine he detected a note of grati- tude'?

"What

would you croprotation experts advise

me

toplant after petunias?"

The

National

FUTURE FARMER

Hard-tokillCanadathistles? " ResJstant cornrootworms?

~

Weed or insect problems?

Get up-to-date recommendations and prompt delivery of all your insecticide and weed killer needs..,

big dividends you can count on from your Standard Oil Farm Man!

choice

for

spot treatment

of

patches

of

Canada

thistle

and bindweed).

So don't

let

weeds and

insects

rob you

of yields

and

profits.

Talk overyour needs and

special

prob- lems

with

your Standard

Oil

Farm Man.

He'll

help you

select

the products

that

are best

for

you— and Solve

all

your

insect

and weed

control

problems

with a call to

your nearby Standard

Oil

Farm Man.

He's

specially

trained and kept up-to-date by some

of

the best Entomologists and Herbicide

Specialists

inthe business. Heal so has the products you need

in his

complete

line.

To control resistant corn rootworms, he can supply you

with

the organic phosphate products STA-THION, DIAZINON 14-G, NIRAN 10-G, and THIMET 10-G. He

also

has ALDRIN and HEPTA-

CHLOR for general

^soil

insect control where

resistant

corn rootworms are not

a

problem, and where the use

of

these products

is

approved by State

authorities.

Hislistof

proven weed

killers

includes ATRAZ

INE,

RANDOX, ALANAP, Amoco. 2,4-D Weed

Killers,

and Amoco- Noxious Weed

Killer

(an excellent

•Trademark Api-il-JIay. 1963

he'll delive

You expec

r, right to

your farm,

at

no

extra cost!

•ct

more from Standard and you get

it!'

Call the

man

vv/ioputsthefarmerfirst

47

Let's Do LEATHERCRAFT!

25«